e, and, consequently, any chance of offence: but if
people _will_ feel angry without any just cause, it cannot be helped;
and so Monsieur le Marechal must recover his serenity and acquire a
temper more in analogy with his name; for, though a brave and
distinguished officer, as well as a good man, which he is said to be,
he certainly is _not Bon comme un mouton_, which is his cognomen.

Paris is now before us,--where to choose is the difficulty. We saw
to-day a house in the Rue St.-Honore, _entre cour et jardin_, a few
doors from the English embassy. The said garden is the most tempting
part of the affair; for, though the _salons_ and sleeping-rooms are
good, the only entrance, except by a _passage derobe_ for servants, is
through the _salle a manger_, which is a great objection.

Many of the houses I have seen here have this defect, which the
Parisians do not seem to consider one, although the odour of dinner
must enter the _salons_, and that in the evening visitors must find
servants occupied in removing the dinner apparatus, should they, as
generally happens, come for the _prima sera_.

French people, however, remain so short a time at table, and dine so
much earlier than the English people do, that the employment of their
_salle a manger_ as a passage does not annoy them.

Went to the opera last night, and saw the _Muette de Portici_. It is
admirably got up, and the costumes and scenery, as well as the
_tarantulas_, transported me back to Naples--dear, joyous
Naples--again. Nourrit enacted "Massaniello," and his rich and flexible
voice gave passion and feeling to the music. Noblet was the "Fenella,"
and her pantomime and dancing were good; but Taglioni spoils one for
any other dancing.

The six years that have flown over Noblet since I last saw her have
left little trace of their flight, which is to be marvelled at, when
one considers the violent and constant exercise that the profession of
a _danseuse_ demands.

When I saw the sylph-like Taglioni floating through the dance, I could
not refrain from sighing at the thought that grace and elegance like
hers should be doomed to know the withering effect of Time; and that
those agile limbs should one day become as stiff and helpless as those
of others. An _old danseuse_ is an anomaly. She is like an old rose,
rendered more displeasing by the recollection of former attractions.
Then to see the figure bounding in air, habit and effort effecting
something like that w